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What made you decide to homeschool?

We have been homeschooling our preschooler (he's 4) and we are planning on continuing with him for kindergarten at least. We also have another child who is two. Hayden (preschooler) is doing very well and we enjoy school very much, but lately I have been having alot of self doubts such as: "why am I homeschooling" or "he would get just as good an education in public school" or "wouldn't it be easier if you just sent him to school?" I never used to have any doubts, but I think as the kindergarten enrollment date nears (this fall), I want to be double sure I am doing the right thing. I think part of it is my in laws don't think it's necessary (even though their son did very poorly in school and dropped out, and was also never diagnosed with a learning disability which he DOES have, etc).

You know, we have had such an amazing preschool experience, and we have learned so much ( he is definitely not falling behind) I would hate to just do it for preschool only. But can I really do this? Any advise would help.

it started out that i really just felt like I should be teaching my son. Then the day I told him I had pulled him out of the school and he would not be going back, he told me how another child had been "hurting" him. My son was only in Kindergarten and was being molested by another child every day during their restroom break. I feel this is why the Lord wanted me to pull him out. But this is also the reason I can not see me putting any one of my children back into the school system.

I wont say it is easy. I have been homeschooling for 6 yrs now and I still doubt myself at times. But I have to remember why I do this and just move forward. It is truly rewarding though. I love to be the one (and not a teacher) to witness my child overcome something he or she had been struggling with. I love the quality time spent with my children. I love being able to teach about God and not have any one say I cant. I love being able to teach morals and not have to worry about what is being taught in school. I love not having to worry about bullying or peer pressure. Homeschooling isnt for everyone but it sure is for my family! God bless and best of luck.

Well, I only started homeschooling this last week. I had a lot of reasons: my youngest was being bullied, the principal was a complete a** and took it out on my youngest when I expressed my unhappiness with the school. Both my kids grades were steadily dropping, homework was taking forever and no one was ever explaining anything to my kids about what needed to be done. I wasn't happy with the education they were getting, they weren't learning any history or social studies or anything like that. Their attitudes were starting to stink from hanging around mouthy little brats whose parents don't give a crap how they behave. The final straw for me, though, was when my youngest son's lenses came out of his glasses, someone stole them, and the principal called my son a liar when he said he put them in his backpack. Oh, and the district is planning to go to a 4 day school week next year, extending each day by 45 minutes to an hour and a half, and both my kids have ADHD - aside from their meds wearing off long before the end of the new school day, they'd have no time to play outside by the time they get out of school and get homework done. And they NEED that time outside to burn that energy off.

I've only been doing it a week so far, but I am finding it is so much easier than having them in public school. I can teach them things the way I was taught, which means I can actually be helpful to them when they need help. I can focus on them so that they really get the stuff I'm teaching them, rather than trying to rush it so we can keep moving on. In the amount of time it used to take us to do homework, we get the majority of our school day out of the way. We start when we want, finish when we want (sort of lol). They are already calmer, although right now they're not very focused. but I think that's mostly because this is new and and we're still working out the kinks - they're still more focused than they were on homework at the end of the day, so I'm not complaining too much.

I'm also really lucky that all of my friends and family are super supportive - in fact, many friends are jealous that I am doing this. They think they can't for whatever reason. I did find, though, that for the few I expected to oppose me, having some serious facts to present when I announced my decision helped. Being able to compare ("Right now, we spend X hours doing homework, but I talked to these people who homeschool and they spend only a little more than that on their entire day of school! And their kid is the same age as (name of one of my kids) and he's further in his studies!") homeschooling to public schooling, and acknowledging that there might be some drawbacks, helped them to see that I had thoroughly thought through the decision and was truly doing what I felt was best for my kids, not making a kneejerk reaction, or not wanting to let my kids go or any other excuse people might have come up with for why I was doing it.

My son had a very early fascination with letters and numbers and knew his letters at 2 1/2. He still ended up flunking out of his first preschool since he was unable to follow direction well and didn't speak. He ended up in early intervention from 3 to 4 for speech delays. Most of the class was older than him and doing kindergarten prep so he learned letter sounds, writing and more number stuff. When he was declassified, they told us he shouldn't come back for kindergarten until he was 6.

He has a late August birthday and despite being "ahead" with the letters/numbers stuff, he still had trouble following directions, couldn't sit still much. He also showed a variety of "quirks" that indicated some sensory issues, possible ADD (impulse control) and some social issues.

The school didn't let us know he was declassified until May but most of the preschools around here are filled up in February. So we decided to just keep him home since he had his behaviour/social issues but would also be bored in most standard preschool classes (where they would still be identifying letters). That led to the realization that if I did absolutely anything with him, he would end up being ahead and therefore bored, when he went to kindergarten, especially if we waited the extra year they wanted us to.

We decided that if he did go to public school he would be bored, which would have him acting up. His other issues would make a large classroom hard for him to deal with and he'd probably be in trouble a LOT. It probably wouldn't be long before they would want to medicate him for one thing or another. Meanwhile, at home he was learning very quickly but in ways different from what they would use in school.

So, keeping him home for preschool led to keeping him home indefinitely. Thankfully, dh was very supportive right from the beginning.

I got that way when we were getting ready to start Kindergarten as well. hehe! I ended up going with virtual school b/c I got freaked out but not enough to send him to the brick and mortar school. ;) I was homeschooled and absolutely LOVED it!! :) I wanted my kids to experience the same thing.

Oh many many reasons. lol. Let me tell you my parents are NOT happy about it and I could care less. You are a good fit for PS if you are a robot, average student and don't question anything lol. DD is 5 years old she turned 5 9 days after the kindergarten cut off. At 5 she is reading at (Im not exaggerating or bragging here b4 anyone says anything) a 5th grade level math at a 3rd grade level, and knows more history and geography then most 5th graders. What were they going to do with her in PS? Send her to a class of big 5ht graders when my child is already small for age, bore to pieces so she decides she doesnt want to learn anything? We officially started "kindergarten" this year (yes early) and already we have covered: fractions, decimals, percents, pilgrims from top to bottom, all the parts of speech, and she is now writing stories (in cursive no less). I could go on and on. I looked and the PS she would be going to and what they were doing in kindergarten and they were counting to 10 and learning letter sounds. She would just simple not "fit in" in PS. Im not wasting that amazing brain of hers.

DD would be bored out of her mind! Ever since she could sit up, I've been teaching her and we have been on an amazing journey of learning. Never sitting still, it's even hard to get her to go to sleep or to the restroom, she doesn't want to miss anything! Why should that stop? If she were to go to PS, she would be labeled as ADHD, and be extremely bored. But because I'm divorced and didn't want a court battle, she is enrolled in an online PS. we still get to learn and play together, and her father can have all the certifications he wants!

Thank you so much for all of your advice. Is it normal to feel guilty for NOT having them in public school? I mean, how on EARTH can public school be better? Are they going to miss out? And how is this going to work with my 2 year old starting homeschooling ps in about a year or so? Anyone homeschool 2 grades at once? I've heard that it's easier, but how can that be?

Again, thank you so much for building me up and showing me that public school is not the "best" or "normal" option that people like to say it is.

My daughter was being treated unfairly in school. She was spending half her hours at school in DMC (in school suspension) even though they knew she was under evaluation and ultimately was diagnosed as ADHD/ODD. She's only in kindergarten, turned 5 in July. They put their hands on her, made marks, restrained her, kept her from eating all day on TWO occasions (she was in school from 8:30am-3:45pm, long day to go without food.) and didn't give her a bathroom break one day and caused her to have an accident. With her medical history, she is not supposed to be holding in her pee (she had surgery in 08/11 to fix a bilateral reflux in her ureters).

She wasn't getting any school work done from always being in DMC and even though she tested as above average on her IQ test (which they told me it would have been higher had she not had her difficulties, ADHD/ODD), they were still giving her work that bored her and further exacerbated her inattention. I decided it wasn't healthy for her to be there so I pulled her out and started homeschooling her in December.

ETA: I am not against PS. If we can get my daughter to the point where she can answer questions properly (her expressive language is not where it should be - she's been language delayed since 15 months old) and she develops more maturity and ability to control her impulsiveness, inattentiveness and oppositionality, we will try PS again. Her younger sister will be in PS when the time comes, assuming it works for her.

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